The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced additional implementation steps in its move to re-bid round one of its competitive bidding program.

In late-April, CMS reaffirmed that its interim final rule to re-bid round one of the program still stood. The IFR was released in the final hours of the Bush Administration, after the NCB program’s implementation had been delayed by passage of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA). 

The Obama administration temporarily delayed the IFR in February, and 84 Representatives signed a mid-April House sign-onletter urging CMS to rescind the rule, but to no avail. CMS said in late April that it would press forward and would provide additional information.

CMS has now released the latest details on the re-bid:

• CMS will begin general “pre-bidding” supplier awareness and education efforts on key steps suppliers will need to take now to be ready for registration and bidding, including getting appropriate state licenses, updating Medicare enrollment files with the National Supplier Clearinghouse and getting accredited and bonded.  
• CMS will meet with the Program Advisory and OversightCommittee (PAOC), which is comprised of various industry representatives, onJune 4 before announcing the detailed timeline for the program in thesummer. 
• CMS says it expects to begin the program this summer, with bidding opening in the fall. The agency says that the re-bid will incorporate various process enhancements in hopes of improving the program, such as an upgraded system for online bid submissions, and increased oversight of bidders that are new to product categories or competitive bidding areas, to ensure they meet CMS’s requirements.

Whether those tweaks will go any distance in addressing the larger issues that many experts and political players said make for a flawed process has yet to be seen.